Gee, turns out Congress members who voted for bailout had some stake in the banks.

[dixiegrrrrl]

Go figure.

Equity Ownership and Campaign Financing of Members of Congress and the Bailout of the Financial Sector .

"......We find that the equity ownership of members of the House of Representatives, but not the Senate, is positively associated with voting in favor of key legislative proposals to bailout the financial sector.

In a sample of 555 publicly listed financial institutions, we also find that the equity ownership of Congress members seated on the Senate Finance, the House Financial Services and the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs committees is positively associated with both the amount of bailout these institutions receive, as well as the timing of that bailout .

We find that when the chairpersons and ranking members of these committees hold larger investments in a given financial institution, the amount of support committed thereto as well as their likeliness of receiving this support at an earlier time increases.

Keep in mind they are talking about both Dems and Repubs in this report.

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1570219

[ixion]

1. No. You don't say...

I'll bet they have a nice stake in the insurance cos, too. :grr:

[veganlush]

2. NO WAY!..n/t

[golddigger]

3. I'm shocked!

[ejpoeta]

4. it seems like conflict of interest is part of the job qulifiations.

[unabelladonna]

5. ENOUGH ALREADY!!!!!

when are we going to hold these swindlers accountable? i really believe in term limits, and it's going to get worse.

[DirkGently]

6. We may chuckle but it's worth pointing out.

... if that had been brought to the fore when the bailout was presented, public pressure might have been swayed. Hell, I believed them when they said the world would end if we didn't so something, too.

[progressoid]

8. I don't think anyone here is chuckling

I know I'm not.

[DirkGently]

9. Ours is a grim, knowing chuckle.

[progressoid]

7. K/R

[dixiegrrrrl]

10. Reality sucks, don't it? Just a game of musical chairs in DC.

[Crewleader]

11. you got that right my friend....

out with the old and bring in the new,let's clean house every election! :-)

[abelenkpe]

12. So just to play devils advocate

You woulda let the banks and financial institutions go under? Pension plans, 401ks, IRAs? Isn't it safe to say everyone had a stake in that bailout?

Not that I like it. I don't. I think we should have fired all the failures running the big banks and financial firms, and nationalized them.

[sendero]

14. Hey "devil"..

.. the banks are still insolvent. The bailout money is going to fake profits and bonuses. The banks are eventually going to fail anyway.

There is no "other side" to this argument, a debt crisis like ours can only be solved one way and the bailouts simply kick the can and make the eventual end all that much more painful.

And yes, anyone with a pension, be it corporate or state/local govt should be worried. There is a very good chance will collect only some of what you were promised and some chance you will not collect anything. Bankruptcies generally wipe out pensions.

The facts suck but they cannot be obviated by the crooks who are merely playing a game of "let's keep this ball afloat until all of us insiders can walk away whole".

[abelenkpe]

15. I know

If we nationalize them it is the only chance that ordinary people will ever see any of their pension or savings.

[OneBlueSky]

13. and this is surprising because . . . ? n/t

.